Pattern Store And Water Tank

PATTERN STORE AND WATER TANK, RODBOURNE ROAD, SWINDON

A pattern store dating from 1897, designed and constructed by the Great Western Railway for the Swindon Railway Works. The building is surmounted by a four-section cast iron water tank which covers the entire roof.

The pattern store is constructed from red brick and blue engineering brick, with a cast iron water tank. It forms a simple rectangular plan, oriented north-west to south-east, with an enclosed corner stairwell rising to the second floor.

The building comprises three storeys and a basement, arranged as a seven-bay range three bays deep, set on a plinth which steps forward slightly. A string course runs between the ground and first floors. The long elevations are articulated by wide pilasters of blue engineering brick, between which are segmental-headed window openings with moulded brick arches set in red brick panels. Windows are a mixture of original multi-paned metal windows and later timber-framed casements. The end returns have similar blue brick pilasters with red brick sections between them; the central bay of each return houses pairs of round-arched metal double doors serving the ground, first and second floors. The south-western entrance front features a 20th-century glazed central doorway. The basement has a lean-to conservatory to its central five bays. The rear elevation, facing Rodbourne Road, sits on lower ground level and thus comprises five full storeys plus a high plinth. It follows the same design as the main elevation but includes a small entrance door in the basement of the sixth bay. The cast iron water tank surmounting the entire building features external riveted seams and a continuous handrail. It is covered partly with modern shallow-pitched roofs and partly with a flat roof covered in mineral felt.

The interior employs fireproof construction based on rows of jack arches formed from brick with transverse beams carried on piers made from riveted steel plate, some of which bear the incised initials GWR. An enclosed staircase in the north-west corner rises from ground floor to second floor, accessed from each level by round-arched doorways housing solid metal doors to maintain fire separation. The stair features a plain timber handrail with steel treads covered in small timber blocks. The basement floor is brick, now covered; those to the remaining storeys are pine block. The ground floor and basement have been converted to house a restaurant using lightweight cladding and partitions, though much original structure survives behind them. The first and second floors remain unconverted. Timber trapdoors are set into the floor of each upper storey, rising through the building's centre. Taking-in doors on each floor run on quadrant metal tracks let into the wooden floors. The second floor is slightly lower than those below, with its ceiling forming the base of the massive water tank. At the south-west corner, a bricked-off section creates a small office containing a brick chimney breast with a plain segmental arched opening; a similar fireplace exists at the opposite end of the second floor. This floor also houses a massive pipe that brought water from the roof into the building, together with ancillary piping. At the south-east end of the second floor, a cast iron spiral staircase rises through the tank to the roof, terminating inside a metal turret with a conical roof.

The Swindon Railway Works were established in 1841 as a repair depot for locomotives on the Great Western Railway, chosen for its convenient location on the London-Bristol line where the Cheltenham branch joined the main line. The works rapidly expanded into a factory for building locomotives and wagons, employing 2,000 men by 1851. In 1868 expansion resumed with the construction of a new carriage works, and a vast new locomotive and tender building was constructed in 1873 to the west of the works, reaching to the eastern side of Rodbourne Road. On 22 July 1896, the GWR directors agreed to build a new pattern store at a cost of £4,000, as the old pattern stores were overflowing and many patterns were stored outdoors under sheeting. The new store was constructed by GWR workers using materials from the company's own stores, under the supervision of William Dean, Locomotive and Carriage Superintendent. The order was placed the following month.

The pattern store was the first permanent building erected on the land west of Rodbourne Road, which the GWR had acquired in 1884 and had previously used as a store for redundant broad-gauge locomotives. The location was convenient, as the foundry was situated just across Rodbourne Road, reached by a covered footbridge (now demolished) that allowed easy movement of patterns to and from the store. Patterns were made in 'H' shop to the north of the foundry, keeping related functions close together. The pattern store was later also used as a pattern makers' shop and remained in use until the works closed in 1986.

This area was heavily developed by the firm between 1897 and 1920, with massive workshops built to the west of the pattern store. Following the nationalisation of the railways in 1948, the works became part of British Rail Engineering. After 1960, with the move to diesel locomotives, the works began to contract, relocating almost entirely into the former locomotive works. By 1984 large parts of the site were redundant, and it closed in 1986. Large elements of the works have since been demolished; retained buildings have been converted to mixed office and retail use, with one former shop now housing the Museum of the Great Western Railway. The pattern store currently houses an Italian restaurant.

The building is designated for its rarity as a purpose-built pattern store constructed by the Great Western Railway in 1897, the survival of its massive cast iron water tank in situ, its retention of original layout and fireproof stairwell without later extension or major alteration, and its group value with the adjacent Grade II listed engine turntable and other listed buildings of the former GWR works east of Rodbourne Road.